The Low Blood Games
by The Vampire Avatar
Summary: Kinda follows the plot of the Huger Games. Lowbloods are chosen from all around the world to compete in a deadly game. Karkat, Aradia,Tavros, Sollux, Nepeta and Kanaya are taken away to play these games, but only one walks out alive. And even then, some are killed before the game even starts! With only one victor, who will win? "And may the odds be ever in your favor, low bloods."
1. The games

For many years, there hadn't been any games. They had ended about thirty years prior, for some unknown reason. There are theories that the person who had put it all together committed suicide. Others conspiracies said that the high-bloods feared a rebellion, so they stopped before a war started. In my own opinion, I think it's because the low bloods started to kill higher bloods, which added more respect and began to blur the hemospectrum.

The games were for the high-bloods' entertainment, and it was sick. Twenty-four low-bloods were "chosen" to be contestants in the games. In reality, they were really just kidnapped from their hives.

Stupid, why would you….Anyway. Back on topic. Nobody really knows why exactly they stopped the games for so long, as I said earlier. Maybe it was finally over. The trolls who had actually lived in the times of the games were begging to get hope that the dreaded games had ended. But, once they heard they were starting them again, they got scared. It was a new life, of both humans and trolls. They lived on a planet similar to Earth, only trolls and humans lived in harmony with each other. Sure, they had some slip ups, but mainly everybody behaved and got along just fine. But now…The president of the Alternian/Earth world, like a grand ruler of some sort, had been going through some old files online.  
He browsed for something that would rouse excitement and increase his popularity in the upcoming elections. He had to do something drastic to get ahead in the polls. He clicked on a link that was strangely titled, "The Games." What a fool he was for clicking on it. The files had contained all the information on the subject and had told him of all of the low blood games. It was a fight to the death between twenty-four young troll, in something like an arena. They were very long, and the farther you went into it, the more entertainment for the more he read, the more he began to like these games. He thought that if he could add some humans into it, it would gain him the respect of both trolls and humans. He read up more information. The contestants went up to Jade-blood –nothing higher. Starting at teal, trolls would be considered higher on the hemospectrum. So only low-bloods, otherwise it would not be acceptable. He called up on his most trusted colleagues and ordered them to go out and bring him six trolls, or in a few cases, a few humans. He would choose the best of the best from there, and only get the strong –there was no room for the weak. He wanted an actual fight to the death. As he hung up the phone, he said one last thing. "And may the odds be ever in your favor, low bloods."

* * *

This is just the intro, but I do need some OC's for the following chapters. It's pretty much along the lines of the Huger Games, so keep in mind that they might die.  
If you want to submit your oc, please give me their name, blood color and their personality in a REVIEW. If you want, it would be helpful, to give me their strife weapon(s) as well.  
I'll PM you if I decide to use it. Thanks to everybody who reviews!


	2. Getting the tributes

Back to our trolls. They lived in the same-ish area. However, every week they would meet up and go into the town to go for a shopping spree with the humans.

It was a nice ordeal. The only downside was that there were many people/trolls there as well.

The lowbloods outnumbered the highbloods by a large amount. Every time a troll higher than teal set foot into the town center, all the warmer bloods could do was gawp.

"Why is she here?! Why are they wandering around in a place like this when they could be in one of their fancy 'highblood cities'?" a mustard-blood whispered to her friend.

"Dunno... but there seem to be a lot of highbloods around today," her friend, who was a maroon blood, muttered in reply.

The highbloods tried not to notice the stares directed at them –Equius, Feferi and Eridan especially. They felt uncomfortable at times, but they managed to walk without breaking their facade.

Today they were visiting the lowblood town for pure enjoyment. It was a nice day –the sun was shining brightly in a ridiculously blue sky. The trolls had accepted that the sun here was a lot less dangerous, but changing from their natural nocturnal habits was difficult.

They conversed in hushed tones. Feferi would sometimes smile at a lowblood, who would in response blush and scurry away, extremely embarrassed. The two males stood around awkwardly, waiting for the announcement to be made.

"Fef, wwhen is this coddamn thing goin to start?"inquired Eridan, tapping his foot impatiently.

"S)(us)( Eridan! It's so aweomse t)(at it's wort)( waiting!" She hissed at him while bringing her arms together and waited for something that they were standing in line for.

It was a long wait -they had already waited for almost an hour. When they reached the entrance, the security stopped them and told them no lowbloods or humans were allowed. The seadwellers entered, Feferi almost dragging Eridan, only pausing to look back at Equius. "Are you coming, Equius?"

"Yes, my lady, I just... need some fresh air." With a nod, she and her moirail were gone. Equius fidgeted around nervously, scanning the crowd for that one person he needed to see before he caught up with the seadwellers.

That one person was crouched behind him on top of the building. She smiled and POUNCED on him, causing him to tumble to the ground. She smiled and laughed on top of him.  
"Hi Equius!" She purred at him

"Oh, hello Nepeta." He smiled, revealing his broken teeth. His smile dropped immediately, however, and she knew something was wrong.

"*AC wonders why her meowrail is feeling so blue.*"

"All I can say is that I'm sorry," he mumbled. Nepeta raised an eyebrow, feeling utterly confused.

"Sorry fur what, silly?" she giggled. "You've got nothing to be sorry for!" Equius felt a knot rise to his throat and tears threatening to spill. He blinked them away.

"But it's okay, the chances of you being picked are slim. You'll be alright. After this horrible thing is done with, you c001d come over to my hive. W001d you like that?" He was talking so fast, he was stumbling on his words.

She gave him a confused look, but nodded all the same. "um...sure?"

He nodded solemnly and gave her a hesitant, gentle, hug. Then he rushed to the entrance and went inside. The doors shut, leaving all the lowbloods outside waiting...kinda frightened. Nepeta was about to go find the others when she heard screaming. She turned around to see many lowbloods running from something.

All of a sudden, a bang went off and dogs that were bigger than regular dogs were released. They were trained to gather certain targets and corner them, seeing who would strike out. Those who did would be taken away. They had certain colors assigned to each dog, meant for that blood color. She saw a green marked dog run towards her and she screamed, taking out her claws.

Nepeta mewled in terror –she HATED dogs with a passion. She heard a snarl behind her and whirled around, her entire body shaking. The dog bared its teeth and inched closer to her. Now there were two!? She hissed at them and swiped at one, getting its eye and causing blood to ooze from a shallow wound. It didn't even flinch, and it kept stalking closer to her.

She hissed at them and jumped up into the air, bringing her claws down on two, aiming for their brains. She smiled and brought out her claws, looking around for any more.

A few feet away from her someone yelled... then there was complete silence.

Suddenly, fire exploded from the tops of a few nearby buildings. Nepeta looked around in fear, what was happening?! Another dog began to chase her down and she raised her claws, ready for battle. The dog jumped on her, pinning her down to the ground. The air was knocked out of her and for a second she thought she was going to die.

But of course, someone as tenacious as Nepeta wouldn't die so easily. She sank her claws into the dog's throat, springing back to her feet. She hissed at it and punctured its heart, killing it. Not long after her short victory, something else grabbed her neck and pinched a nerve slightly. She tried to stay on her feet, but she staggered into the man's arms. A mysterious person dressed in white had put some liquid into her neck to knock her out. It was meant for all the lowbloods who had dared to raise a weapon and fight the barkbeasts. These were the ones that they needed for the bloodbath games, or the Lowblood games taking place that year. He dropped her and went onto get the other fighters.

* * *

Equius yelled out in the highblood area, sinking to his knees. Other highbloods shot him quizzical, startled looks. Feferi went to help him, but Eridan was so enthralled in the battle he couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene. He watched as Kanaya, his old friend, brought her chainsaw away on an unsuspecting dog that was attacking a brown blood.

The highbloods were safe inside their sanctuary, watching the bloodbath. On the wall hung a huge screen that displayed all of the violent fights going down below them.

A few sweeps ago, before Nepeta, Equius wouldhave been among the highbloods who wore a satisfied smirk as they watched. Now, those trolls disgusted him. He was distraught, confused, and he had no idea what to do. He just wanted to save his precious moirail from this cruel fate. What could he do? He was only a blueblood after all.

The highbloods had been forewarned of the reaping two weeks ago. They all tried to think of ways to save their friend-enemies but every one of them would have gotten either them killed or worse. They could only sit back and watch. At least then, they would have a chance at survival.

"I c001d have saved her." His voice was trembling and barely audible. "I w001d have been killed, but I c001d have saved her."

"Wwoah did you see howw Sol just picked up the dog wwith his mind and threw him all the wway across the field?" Eridan cried. Feferi rushed to his side to see. She was concerned for all of her friend-enemies. She had the blood to make this stop! where was the person who was in charge?! She could make this entire thing stop! But as she looked around, she heard the scream of her friend and turned to see Sollux fall unconscious.

* * *

Sollux and Kanaya had paired up in an attempt to kill off as many dogs possible. Eventually, they made up a game of some sort. Whenever they saw a dog or somebody with those shots, Sollux would raise them into the air and throw them at Kanaya, who would slice them with her chainsaw. Sometimes they would be too violent and he had to throw them on the ground once or twice to make them stop before throwing the creatures at Kanaya.

"Thii2 ii2 workiing pretty good," Sollux said with somewhat of a smirk in his voice as he threw yet another dog at her.  
"Yes I Agree That It Is Very Effective," Kanaya replied, running her chainsaw through the body, spilling more blood onto her dark clothing. But she didn't mind; these were her work clothes.

Tavros wheeled over to the two. "uH, HI GUYS." He smiled at them. When they came to this planet, his legs didn't make the journey, so he had to stay in the wheelchair until Equius was done making his new legs.

"Hello Tavros How Are You Doing"

"i'M DOING OKAY, KINDA SAD THAT ALL THESE ANIMALS ARE DYING THOUGH," He sighed, and glanced at the floor but raised his lancekind to stab one charging towards him. "bUT THEY ARE ASKING FOR IT, aND i CAN'T STOP THEM WITH MY POWERS, i CAN'T EVEN GET THEM TO HELP ME OUT,"

Sollux shrugged. "Neiither can ii."

While they were distracted, a few guards had caught up with them and punctured their necks. Sollux yelped at the feel of the unpleasant sting. Kanaya saw a dog coming and raised her chainsaw right before a needle entered her body.

Tavros tried to help, but was easily taken down by a guard. Right before he went into the black, he thought of Gamzee, and imagined what the others could possibly be doing.

* * *

Vriska and Eridan high fived each other when a dog bit a troll in revenge for being hit by their weapon, enjoying the violence. At the same time were terrified for all their friend-enemies, but kept their concerns to themselves.

* * *

Kanaya's scream was suddenly heard and the screen turned to her. She tried to hold back to dog, but was shot in the neck by the liquid. She fell to the ground as well, being dragged away by a dog, taking her over next to Nepeta. Soon they were joined by Sollux and Tavros, which made Feferi and Gamzee gasp.

* * *

Some of the highbloods shared their excitement however, and they cheered when some of the lowbloods were killed.

Feferi tried to hold tears in and shouted at people to be quiet, but her screams and demands fell on death ears. Gamzee looked at the screen confused.

"CoMe On TaV bRo, WaKe ThE mOtHeRfUcK uP." Tavros didn't wake up.

* * *

Karkat however, was not amused. In fact, he was FAR from it. As soon as the fighting started, he found Aradia and helped her. He knew that she could handle herself just fine, but when she was taken away unconscious, he was outraged. What about his other friends!? Were they goners too?! He screamed and took out as many people as he could. He even saw humans being taken too. He counted five humans being taken away, none of whom he knew, which was good. But he did see some trolls he recognized.

Currently, he was fighting two dogs at once, slicing off their heads with his sickle. It wasn't easy, but then again, a troll's life was never really easy to begin with, now was it? He threw the blood bodies off himself and took a seat for a few minutes, catching his breath.

He stood up after a while, feeling relieved and strangely safe for a second, until he was jabbed with a needle and a person in a white labcoat dragged him out. He groaned and tried to resist, but he was out in a matter of seconds. He cursed under his breath and knew that he would join those being taken away to gog knows where.

There was a yell of agony, and the camera's focused on a maroon blood as she bled to death.

They dragged the body that belong to Karkat to the pile and called the dogs back. They all came after a few shouts. They were rewarded some limbs of those who had died, and munched happily on their muscles. Cracks of the bones were heard as they loaded up the ones in the pile of bodies that were going to be tributes in the games.

They weren't all going in, no, but those who wouldn't would be great treats to the dogs. And hey, their weapons were pretty cool too.

They trolls that lied in the pile were Karkat, Aradia, Sollux, Nepeta, Kanaya and some others. After they were all accounted for, they were put in vans to be taken to the train, which would take them to the capital to be decided if they would live or die.

* * *

There was excited chatter buzzing around in the highblood's room. That fight was amazing! So much lowblood filth were killed, blood was everywhere. It was like old times, and maybe this would bring the Hemospectrum back. As all the highbloods were talking about it, five trolls were sitting together in the crowd, wondering what was going to happen to their friends. They hoped it was nothing bad and they would live, but they all knew that this wasn't going to happen. One troll, however, was sitting in the corner, avoiding all contact. If you listened very closely, you could hear some sniffs coming from him.

This troll grew angry when somebody had mentioned _her_. "Did you see that olive blood take out those dogs? I loved how she got taken, that was a classic fight!"

He had gotten VERY angry. He got up, sprinted to the door, and punched it down in a matter of punches. He then STRONG jumped over to the van that held his moirail and tried to rip the door off. He would save her, no matter what! He tried to get a grip on the handle. He was so close. But a guard saw him and got another shot ready, putting more dosage in because this guy was not only big, but a blue blood at that.  
People watched him in amusement, some tittering –but one evil glare from Feferi and they shut up instantly. Equius ran with all his might, but the van drove away into the horizon. Huffing, he fell to the ground, not bothering to get up. Things were swaying and spinning around him, what was happening?! He tried to get up, but felt something.

He reached up and grabbed a needle. They had shot him, but it was so silent...He swayed and shouted Nepeta one last time before everything went black.


	3. Train Rides and Presidents

Nepeta's POV:

Because she was the first one to be injected, she was also one the first one to wake. She looked around, wondering where she was. She glanced around the car that she was in and shook her head, putting it in her hands. It looked more as if it were a train cart instead of a simple car.

The 'car' itself was large, but only a few others were in there. After a quick count, Nepeta discovered that the other twelve in the car with her were green bloods. This was odd. Should there be other colors as well? And what about the high bl–  
_Equius!_

She shot up onto her feet and then quickly fell to her knees. The blood rushed to her head, giving her a slight headache. She groaned, but managed to drag herself back up. She shook her thoughts away and tried to think of what could have happened to him. He could have been seriously hurt! What if they had slaughtered all the high bloods? Just the thought of him being dead was...unimaginable. The reality of it...

_No, that wouldn't have happened. It would start a huge outrage, Hemospectrum aside. That many trolls being killed at once? People would be upset._She told herself this and felt a little better inside.

She took a few deep breathes, just in case, before going over to Kanaya. She nudged the jade-blood's body to try to wake her up, but she was apparently still in a deep state of unconsciousness.

Sighing once again, Nepeta blinked and waited for the ride to be over.

She decided to take out her claws and try to sharpen them on a rock she had found while she was waiting, but she couldn't. Confused, she tried to take out anything. Nothing happened. They had taken all of their things. Not even her hat remained, along with her coat. All was gone.

All the trolls in the car had only the clothes on their back.

* * *

**Aradia's POV**

The rust blood opened her eyes to see that she was in some kind of a train car. She easily got up and stretched. There weren't many red bloods in there. Only like twelve or so. Karkat was in the corner wrapped up in chains. She ran over to him so she could attempt to help him.

She tried to break the chains, but she wasn't strong enough. She tapped into her physic powers and concentrated on the chains. Nothing happened and the effort made her head throb until she stopped. She gasped in pain and held her head when the sharp agony wracked her think-pan. It felt like something had hammered nails into it! A thousand nails being smashed into her head. It got better after a moment but small waves of pain still laced her brain. Stuff like that hurts.

Looking at her wrist, she saw pieces of metal sticking into her wrist. It looked like a highly painful fashion statement of a bracelet. It went halfway around her wrist and then went into her skin. She tried to touch it, but as expected, it stung her. The pain didn't compare to the feeling she had when she use her psychics, but, it sent a shock that said "do not touch." The piece of metal was obviously for the psychics. It sent a pattern of electric waves into whoever's skull to make using any telekinesis an unsavory act. At least until it was taken off. The energy that would build up while the powers were dormant would be potent once the cuff was removed.

As far as she was concerned, they were going to take it off once they entered the games. Giving a few a slight advantage over the others made sense, since it would make for a bloodier fight. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on when you have read cave paintings of the games. Only once in the thousands of years in the history of the games had highbloods been taken/And when that happened, excuse the language, shit had hit the fan.

Zoning back in focus, she saw another red-blood move. Aradia tilted her head a little and looked over. A small red blood, no more than three sweeps old, got up onto their arms and tried to stand. They fell back down to the ground with a yelp. They looked so weak and fragile.

After her death, Aradia had lost most of her emotions. She stopped role playing and didn't like to do much of anything except break stuff. Breaking things had made her happy. Well… as close as happy as she could get without emotions. Even Sollux had made her type "ha ha" to make a point of her being a "life of the party."

Needless to say, she was not dead. Nor did she have just one emotion. So she went over to help the small low-blood.

When she came over to the low-blood and gave them a friendly gaze, she received a look of fear in return. The small troll had a thin scar running across a young face and had a scarf wrapped around a skinny neck, which hid more scars. A red line intersecting two circles was the troll's symbol.

"Hello," Aradia smiled at the child. "My name is Aradia."

The small child continued to stare at Aradia for a while until she sighed and sat down next to them. "Will you tell me your name, now?"

The small child looked sheepish for a bit but nodded after a moment's hesitation. In a small voice, the child spoke."Well, my friends call me Cookie, but I don't wanna tell you what my real name is..."

Aradia smiled at the funny nickname. "Well, what if I keep it a secret and tell you one of mine in return?"

Cookie, apparently, shrugged. "Okay..."

Aradia smiled. "Alright, let's see...a good secret...hm...oh! I died before, and one of my...friends, had made me a soul-bot to live in until I could get a new body, you know? Well, he installed some red feelings for him in my heart, so I ripped it out and after that we kissed."

Cookie gasped and giggled. "Ew, that's gross!"

Aradia nodded, smiling as well. "Yes, it was. But tell me, what is your name?"

Cookie started to come out of her shell around Aradia a little and spoke to her in a kind voice this time, not a scared one. "My name is Cavera."

Aradia giggled at the small coincidence. Her name was similar to cave. "Hey, it's not funny!"

Aradia turned, at the child who was glaring at her. "No, I'm sorry. It's just that it sounds like 'caves' which, I explore for fun sometimes."

Cookie sighed and folded her arms. "I guess that makes sense."

They smiled at each other until Cookie stuck out her tongue.

Aradia smiled. "I think I have made a friend," and the child smiled at her in agreement.

**Nobody's POV**

A few hours after all the trolls had woken up, the trains all pulled up to a weird building. It was a rectangle structure with no windows, no doors, nothing. It was almost like a box. There were plants around it, but other than that, they were in a wasteland. Nothing was there. Not even trees. Just miles and miles of grass.

The doors opened to all the train doors at the same time, and the trolls blinked their eyes to see guards waiting in rows of rows of guards. There had to be at least two hundred.

A yellow blood stepped out of the cart, and was captured by three guards, who blindfolded him and dragged him through a very had to see, and very hard to fit into, door to a chute that fell down twenty feet and onto a hard concrete floor.

When no one moved for hope of avoiding being tossed down the chute, the guards began grabbing random low bloods and chucking them into the small area.

Once down the chute, they would land on the ground and, if they didn't want to be crushed, would move fast out of the way before the next troll was thrown down. They were led through many hallways (with their blindfolds on of course) and were shoved into a cell with the other blood colors that shared theirs.

Nepeta found Kanaya and was hugging her out of fear and because it was so damn cold there. It had to be at least ten degrees, but nothing over forty. Aradia kept Cookie close to her for similar reasons.

Karkat however, was taken elsewhere.

He was thrown to the head of everything: the president himself.

The president took off his blindfold and smiled. "Well, hello little troll. How are you?"

"SCREW YOU! WHERE AM I?!"

The president shook his head.

"Well, hi to you too. And I'm terrific. I have to say, your politeness dumbfounds me."  
When Karkat didn't respond, he rolled his eyes.

"Look, my name is Andrew Hussie, alright? And I am here to make The world better, okay? Better with me in charge. And the only way to do that is to do these games. And like in every game, there needs to be drama. That would be you. Now, we have a special plan for you, okay?"

Karkat rolled his eyes. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"  
"You'll find out very very soon, Mr. Vantas. And just so you know, it will feel like falling asleep. Now, guards, take him to see our mind person, would you? And make it heavy, I don't want him to wake up."

The guards nodded, rebinding Karkat and dragged him out, taking him to be hypnotized. Karkat struggled against them, screaming curse words and yelling out at everything and everyone.

"TELL ME WHAT YOUR FUCKING PLAN IS, ASSHAT!"

Hussie shook his head. "No way am I doing that. But I will tell you what you'll be used for. There will be twenty-three other trolls put into this game and you'll fight to the death until only one survives. That person or troll will be saved and returned back home with great honor."

"BUT THERE ARE A LOT MORE TROLLS THAN THAT."

"Great observation. We took the ones that fought back, but after we watch you guys fight, we're going to judge and see who gets to be in those twenty three spots. Those who don't..." Hussie shrugged and brought his hand up to his neck and made a line across it. "They'll be asleep for those games."

"YOU SICK FUCK-"

"You, however, mutant, will have your mind warped so that you try to kill everything that moves, that breathes. If it has a heart, you'll kill it. Even if it's your own friend. Now. I'll talk to you later, Karkat."

Karkat was once again dragged out.  
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS, I'LL STOP YOU! LET ME GO!"

Hussie smirked. "And may the odds be ever in your favor,_mutant_."


	4. Sick Fires

Tavros POV

Tavros was struggling. He could barely make it without his legs; he had to convince another orange blood to help him "walk" to where to they were held, and even then it was hard. Mainly, he sat alone in the corner and waited to be taken back to the others. Nobody got sleep. As soon as it was quiet, grunts and groans were heard. One of his cell mates looked out of the bars in the wall to see the red bloods being dragged out of their cell and taken to the next hall over in chains and ropes. Nobody really knew where they went.

All the blood colors had their own hall, so this one was obviously orange. Tavros thought about Aradia and the others. Were they going in blood order? And what about the others back at home? What was going ON?! Some hours later, the guards came up to their cell and unlocked the door, grabbing the closest one and binding his arms in chains. Tavros tried to get up but couldn't even stand. One of the guards noticed this and grabbed him up, forcing him into chains, pushed him out and took him down the hall into where the red bloods were.

"I doubt you'll make it out alive," the guard muttered. A bit later, Tavros found himself in a large room. The room itself was so big that you couldn't even see the ceiling. There were lights on the floor with glass protecting it. On the floor, there were some weapons with red blood on some of them. The guard threw Tavros down onto the floor and walked over him. "Orange bloods. Like the rest of the low bloods, you will fight. The ones that we like, we'll take. If you aren't picked...Let's just say you'll have a warm nap."

The orange bloods shared worried glances. There were so many of them! And only a few were chosen? What would happen if they weren't picked?

"First," the guard gathered their attention again. "You will run as fast as you please around the room until we tell you to stop. If you don't," He looked at Tavros. "Then I doubt you will be picked for later on. After that, you shall spare each other to show us your fighting skills. Once again, if you are unable-"

"You don't fight you don't make it, we get it!" a troll shouted at them, bored by the rules. He crossed his arms and was immediately shocked with a bolt of electricity. He was shocked repetitively until he couldn't move anymore. Even his chest had ceased to move. He took a few ragged breaths and finally exhaled. Everybody backed away from him and stared at the corpse.

"As I was saying. If you are unable to fight you shall meet the same fate as your fellow blood. So I suggest you fight hard and show off as much as possible." The guard smiled at them with a sick grin playing on his lips. "Ready? Go."

Tavros gulped and tried to avoid people trampling over him.

After many hours later, the orange bloods were asleep in their cage. Tavros was still awake. He was sure that he wasn't going to make it. From the distance, he could barely hear the other trolls snoring in other cages.

He thought about what he was going to do if something happened. Who would throw down sick fires with Gamzee? Who would go on FLARPing adventures with Vriska and Aradia? ...Okay nobody, but still! He was important and didn't want to die.

Tavros closed his eyes and started to drift to sleep. It was peaceful for now and he wanted some sleep desperately. Just as he was getting there, some guards came in and grabbed a few trolls. They already had a few red-bloods with tears streaming down their faces. Tavros backed up a little and tried to look threatening to the guards. It did not work. The guards came and grabbed him by the arms and started to push him out of the cell. He struggled and tried to break free, but the guard finally shoved him out into the hall where he fell and tried to climb up with help by the wall.

He gripped the rocks and pulled himself up. He smiled. Maybe he could actually mak-

Suddenly a shock went through his entire body. When it was over he didn't have time to breathe before another one went through his body. Shock after shock, would it ever stop?! Would it end up like that guy who spoke out?! What's going to happen...?

Eventually they stopped and he could hear their laughing. It was blurred, like the rest of the world, but he could make it out if he concentrated enough. They took one of his horns and started to drag him through the cave hallways. More than once, he was hit with a rock or two from the ground. It didn't help that his horns were sensitive, like all trolls. Tears were starting to stream down his face as they stopped. The guard dropped his horn, forcing his head to fall and hit the floor as if it were shot down.

When he hit, he landed on his horn and a sickening sound broke out. Tavros looked at it to see that it chipped at the end. He gasped and tried to move, but his body was still sore from the shocks. The orange bloods looked up to see the yellow bloods and saw Sollux sleeping against the wall with his glasses on his face.

He kept them on during his sleep in case something happened and he had to get ready that second. Tavros tried to smile at him, or at least get his attention but he didn't wake up. Tavros desperately called out his name to get him to move. But that only resulted in him getting shocked again.

After the guards had gotten the yellow bloods they were marched, or in Tavros's case, dragged to a steal door. A guard stepped out and opened it, shoving them all inside. "Listen up, lowbloods! We're getting the first three base classes and dealing with them first before we go to the green bloods. So you guys sit tight in here. Maybe get warm a little?"

The other guards snickered and left them. The steal door slammed closed after the guards and left the base colors to look at each other,wondering what to do now. Tavros looked around. There were some pipes coming from the ceiling and the ground. He thought that maybe they were going to get a shower or something? It was possible.

The humans had shown them the showers they have and it was pleasantly nice. Tavros smiled at the thought of the water running down his back for the first time. It was amazing. Vriska had ruined it when she had made the cold water come on instead of the nice warm water. He frowned slightly at the thought of Vriska. Things were complicated with her. She was very nice and everything, but...he liked somebody else.

Just as he was thinking of her, something started to come out of the pipes. At first it was just some smoke then...sparks. The trolls were starting to freak out when the door opened again and green was added to the color of the damned. Just as the steal door closed for good, the fire started to shoot out of the pipes. It was as if it was a firehose went wild with fire.

Everybody screamed bloody murder. And it was.

Ironically, it was a sick fire that killed Tavros Nitram.


	5. Getting on the trains

Kanaya's POV

Kanaya awoke a few hours after the fires to find that there were only seven green bloods in their cell. Three were jades and the others were olive green, like Nepeta. Last night there was at least ten. She was sure of it. Where were the others?  
She got up and brushed herself off from her sleep. Nepeta awoke and bounced over to her. She and Kanaya never really got to know each other, but now that the only thing that was comfort to both of them was the familiarity the other green blood gave.

"Kanaya?" Nepeta asked quietly –they weren't allowed to talk while they were here.

"Yes Nepeta?"

"Are we efur gonna go home?"

Kanaya nodded comfortingly and rubbed her behind her horns. Nepeta purred and rubbed her head into the touch. Usually troll horns were sensitive, but Nepeta loved having it rubbed there. However, if you ever actually touch her horns, she will be in pain and you will be on the floor in seconds.

"I Do Think So. At Least I Imagine So."

"I can't wait to go home and s33 my meowrail again. I miss him pawfully already."

"I Know And I Am Certain That He Misses You Too. You Two Are Very Close."

"That's beclaws we're purrfect fur each other." Nepeta giggled and smiled at Kanaya. She smiled back and couldn't help feeling a little bad. She had very little doubt that they would ever see Equius again… or anyone else for that matter.

A few hours later, some guards came over to the green bloods; cage. A green blood named Argoni stood up and walked over to the bars. Staying wise, he stayed back from their reach and asked when they would be leaving this hell hole.

"Actually, you'll be leaving now. Please line up with the Jade bloods in the back." A guard from the back pulled out some chains while another unlocked the door to the cell. Nepeta shared a look with Kanaya and walked to the front of the line, where she was shoved aside and behind another green blood.

Kanaya went to the back of the line where the other jade bloods, Radion and Argoni were standing. When they started moving, the guards wrapped chains around their wrists and pushed them into the hallway. After making various turns and stops, the green bloods soon met up with the others.

They made their way into a large hall, where the other bloods were already lined up. Sollux and Aradia turned to see their friends and smiled at them. Nepeta smiled at them and looked around for the orange blood friend of theirs.

Kanaya noticed this and looked around at the trolls to find that he wasn't there. With a horrible realization, they had figured out what had happened to him. _It was a merciful death, at least_, thought Kanaya.

Kanaya kept the information to herself, not wanting the others to realize that he had died so early on...yet. They weren't dumb. If you had any sort of weakness on Alternia, you would be culled for it. You had to be strong and smart. Otherwise, you would get yourself killed. They would figure it out soon, sooner rather than later.

A few guards started to shout orders to the others and suddenly the chains were ripped off their arms by nearby guards. The green bloods obviously got theirs taken off first. As soon as a guard came up and tore it off, Kanaya breathed a sigh of relief. She rubbed her wrists and took a few seconds to stretch.

The other green bloods shook themselves off, along with Nepeta. She literally dropped to the ground and stretched out her muscles. She bounced back up and smiled at Kanaya. Kanaya politely smiled back and rubbed her head, which caused Nepeta to purr.

A guard came up to the two and separated them. "No touching each other –not until later, at least. Now, march!" For extra measure, he poked them with the head of a spear.

The green bloods backed off quickly into the train and stopped almost immediately with their jaws dropped. There had been tables upon tables of food, water, some questionable colorful liquids in containers and even chairs! They didn't have to sit on the floor!

One of them ran inside to get a closer look and went into a door, running back out and shouting that it was a real room with a recoopercoon and everything! His friend ran into the room with him and jumped into the slime.

Kanaya looked at Nepeta and gestured to a room. "Would This Room Work For The Two Of Us?"

"It would be purrfect fur us!"

Nepeta opened the door, took off her jacket, and curled into a ball on the floor. Kanaya gave her a confused look. "Nepeta Are You Not Going To Sleep In Yours?"

She shook her head at Kanaya. "Nyo, I didn't have one at my cave. So, I would prefur to sl33p on the floor. Plus, I'm used to the floor. It'll remind me of home." Kanaya nodded. She could understand that. After about an hour, the rest of the trolls were loaded onto the train and they took off. Most of everybody either took to their rooms or sat down and ate some of the food. They were allowed to mix together with all the blood colors. This was a relief. Sollux, Aradia, Cookie, Kanaya and Nepeta stayed together as much as they could. They were all they had now.

And even that wouldn't last very long.


	6. A new friend

_Sollux POV_

After they had gotten onto the trains, on which the red bloods were last mind you, they went to find their friends. Sollux searched through the dazed trolls, skimming for the five others he had came with. Suddenly, Sollux passed by a familiar green blood who smiled gently at him. "Greetings Sollux," Kanaya said with a nod.

Sollux nod to her in reply. "Have you 2een anybody el2e here?"

Kanaya nodded to him. "Yes I Have Met Up With Nepeta. Unfortunately, Nobody Else Has Made An Appearance."

Glancing around again, he sighed. They had surely found out about Karkat and culled him. There was no stopping it now. "What do you thiink about tavro2?"

Kanaya sighed and looked down. "I Do Not Believe He Has Made It. With Those Legs Of His Especially."

Sollux nodded and sighed. He too looked down and began to wonder what he could do to get back. Karkat would surely leave either him or Kanaya in charg-

"Sollux! It's so purrfect to s33 you!" Sollux was suddenly tackled to the ground. Not as rough as it would have been for Equius, of course and it was just a tackle. She reserved tackle pounces for her moirail and her moirail only.

Nepeta jumped off of him and giggled at him. "Silly, you can't even take a tackle!"  
"I agree. Maybe y0u sh0uld build up s0me muscle, S0llux."

Sollux turned to see a red-blooded troll with long hair and a beautiful smile that made him smile, in his own way, back to her. "2up aa?"

Aradia smiled and side stepped to show Cookie hiding behind her, munching on some food that was on the table nearby. "Guys I want y0u t0 meet a friend that I had made. Say hell0 t0 C00kie."

"Hello."

"2up?"

"hey!"

Some trolls suddenly pushed past them and ran into their rooms. Sollux mumbled under his breath at them and glared. Aradia only smiled and asked where their room was. They glanced at each other. "I guess wherefur you guys want."

Aradia smiled at the cat girl and remembered her moirail. She had conflicting feelings about the certain blue blood. He had built her a new body, yes, but he had programmed it with something that she didn't want, and she certainly didn't need. But, at least he had done that. If it wasn't for the robot, she wouldn't have been able to come back to life during the game. Maybe ….just maybe there was something there for him?

She shook her head and followed the other trolls into a room. Inside, there were five recooperacoons. Nepeta rolled around on the floor, getting comfortable. She didn't normally sleep in one unless she was forced to do so.

Aradia took the one next to Cookie's and Sollux took the one beside her. Kanaya stepped into the one in the middle of them all and relaxed. It was, after all, their only chance to for a very long time. And for all the trolls in that room, all but one that is, it was their only chance to for the rest of their lives. And even that wouldn't last long.

_Nepeta POV_  
When Nepeta first woke up, she glanced around the small room and realized she was the only one awake. She looked up at the dark room and was glad for her night vision. She was so used to hunting after all. Nepeta stretched her limbs out and mewed as she did so. She was still tired, but she was used to it. One of the best night's rest she could ever ask for was when she was in her moirail's arms.

He was always so worried that he would hurt her, and he was terrified when she slept with him. He could so easily hurt her in his sleep...but she would always pounce on him and tickle him in his most ticklish place. Right below the ribs. In his lifetime, about ten living things had ever heard him laugh.

She was one of the first. She smiled at the memories of Equius and got up and left the room before the tears would come out. She was tough! She wouldn't let the others see her cry, even if they were asleep. She's seen Equius cry before. He told her to never cry about anything and if she had to, come and get him. He would take care of the things that made her cry.

Pushing the button, Nepeta walked out into the hallway and looked out the window. Outside, trees were flying past and it looked as if they were on a racetrack. NASCAR was in session and they were in the lead. The crowd was just a bunch of trees and everything was silent. She could barely even feel the floor rumble. Two hundred miles an hour and she couldn't feel anything.

"Unnatural abomination..." Nepeta grumbled under her breath and went to the window and sat down in a chair next to it.

"I don't like it either..." A small voice said. If it weren't for Nepeta's excellent hearing, she couldn't have even heard it. But she did. Turning around, she spotted Cookie and smiled at her. "Hiya!"

Cookie flinched. She wasn't used to having people be nice to her, let alone talk to her. "You're cookie, right? My name's Nepeta!"

Cookie only smiled at her. "Hi..."

After a moment's hesitation, Cookie slowly placed a chair next to Nepeta and sat in it.

"How come you're awake?" The cat troll asked the food-named troll.

"I never fell asleep."

"oh..."

It was a pregnant pause of awkwardness before either of the two spoke. "Are we gonna die, Nepeta?"

Nepeta looked down at the young troll, shocked. She didn't even ask herself that question. But when she heard it out loud...she had to think for a moment.  
"I don't meow..."

"Cat puns?" Cookie smiled at the distraction and laughed.

"Cats are so purrfect!"

"I love them!" Cookie stood up on the chair. "My lusus was one!"

Nepeta gasped and stood up with her on the table in between them. "So was mine! Aren't they adorable when they yawn or paw at you?"

Cookie's head shook like an earthquake as she laughed. "Adorable!" They laughed and jumped around.

Cookie felt a bit of joy as she realized she had just made a new friend.

* * *

_Karkat's POV_

"YOU ASSHOLES, LET ME OUT!"

Karkat was chained to a wall. He was shirtless and what he has on could barely be called pants. The room itself was both a prison and a white slab of purity. White tiles filled the room and contrasted with his blood as it dripped from his face. There was a mirror that he couldn't see through –he only saw himself as he searched for a sign of a door. He never figured out where it was though. Somehow people just got in the room. In reality, there was a door that opened next to the mirror, but he was either in too much pain or didn't care to notice.

A fresh wave of both sweat and pain washed through him as a whip cracked at his back. "Quiet!" a voice hissed at him. He grit his teeth together and tried not to scream out in pain as mutant blood traveled down his body. Again.

He has been beaten, whipped, tortured, broken and stabbed more times then he cared to count. His body has never felt like this. Pain had filled his veins and bit at his muscles. He had gone unconscious so many times it was a blessing to him to feel the darkness seeping over his eyes. It was so much better than the horrid pain.  
Speaking off, a hit to his head made the darkness dab at his eyes. A figure came out of the room's corner and moved closer to him. "Enough." The figure was dressed in a black coat and a bowler hat. He bent down and took off his hat to the young troll. "Hello. Remember me?"

Karkat glanced up and growled. "DAMNED PRESIDENT, RIGHT?"

The president smirked and nodded. "But call me Hussie. I'm kinda important."  
K

arkat sneered. "WELL I'M KINDA A BIG DEAL TOO, ASSHA-"

Hussie slapped him across the face without a blink in the eye. "Enough. Now. You might feel a little bit of... something. This should keep you going for a while. And, dear God, I hope it runs out in the middle of the fun. That would be even more fun."

Karkat opened his mouth to ask what he was talking about when somebody grabbed his chin and forced him to look at them. Or more specifically, his eyes. Suddenly, instead of a darkness filling his vision, it was bright purple. All purple...too much purple...  
Karkat slumped against the wall and nearly stopped breathing. However, soon his vocal cords were put to the test when he woke up with red bleeding eyes, and screamed. Hussie laughed and backed towards the door. "Mind take over. Classic. Messes with his head, y'know?" The troll nodded and they laughed as Karkat went through Hell, not making it back until it was too late.

His mind was now gone.


	7. The Capital

Aradia's POV

Once everybody had woken up in the morning, they came out of their rooms to find plates of bacon, pancakes, waffles, toast, and practically every breakfast food you could dream of. There were a few plates left, they were the last to get up, and each of them got one.

Nepeta, of course, got mostly meat on hers, Sollux loaded up on honey and waffles, Kanaya some eggs, Cookie a waffle, and Aradia some eggs and bacon.

Once they all sat down to eat, a human walked in and clapped her hands excited. "Pay attention, pay attention! Now, I know all of you have been preparing for this moment, but let's not be too-"

"What are you TALKING about, lady?!" a troll shouted. He was a yellow blood. Aradia had recognized him from earlier. His name was Chiram. He shared a great interest with her, Troll Doctor Who. It was one of her favorite shows when she was able to watch it.

"I'm TALKING about how we are going to the capital soon. That is where you all shall battle to the death! Oh, how fun, seeing blood run down your bodies..." Nobody could fully tell if she was kidding or being sarcastic.

Once Aradia had finished her breakfast, she moved back to her room where the others were already waiting.

"Ah Hello Aradia We Need To Talk To You About Something." Kanaya had said politely. "0kay, what's up?" Aradia asked nervously. Was something wrong?

"We Are Worried That We Will Have To Fight Against Each Other. We Have To Think Of Something That We Could Do."

"ii 2ay that we ju2t team up wiith each other. That2 the be2t thiing two do."

Kanaya sighed and put her hand to her face. "I Told You Already, They Might Split Us Up If That Happens."

Aradia frowned slightly and joined them in thought. "S0 y0u're saying that if we team up they might spilt us up." Kanaya nodded. "In 0ne 0f my archive expl0rati0ns, I have f0und that in a l0t 0f fights t0 the death, there have been teams. Maybe we c0uld all j0in up?"

"I think that we should just all find each other and stay together." Cookie suggested. "Like work together, a team."

Nepeta sighed, frowning and looked around. "I wish Karkitty was here..."

Kanaya nodded again. "How About We Vote For It? All In Favor For Forming A Team No Matter What?"

All hands went up.

"Fine. If Something Happens Though We Might Be In Trouble." Kanya stormed off.

"I still don't s33 why she was so mad about that. It's just the simple thing for us to do."

When the train pulled up to the capitol, everybody was shocked, to say the least. They all crowed around the windows. Tall buildings surrounded them, along with weird people and high-bloods. The humans wore all shades of colors on them along with sparkly make up. The girls had long eyelashes with glitter of all colors on them. The males had the same, only instead they wore suits.

The higher-blood trolls had more. Some even had piercings on their horns. They wore fancy clothes and died their hair the color of their blood. All of them wore fancy clothes and had different colored hair.

All in all, it was just plain freaky and crept out all who had never seen that before. So basically, all the trolls.

Kanaya's POV  
Once the train had docked at the station, the trolls were separated by their blood once more. The green bloods, because they were the highest of the lowbloods, were taken first. There was only four of each color. Two males and two females. Kanaya and Nepeta were the only green females and even then, Nepeta was the only non jade one. She kinda felt bad. But at least she wasn't the mutant, Karkat. Kanaya paused and wondered where he even was.

The guards pushed them ahead and they entered a very tall building. Looking up at it would probably make your neck hurt. Once inside, Kanaya and Nepeta gasped. It had more humans and more trolls. They all gasped and started to shove their way over to the greenbloods.

"What's your plans to kill the others?!"

"Do you think you're gonna live? Oh, I do hope so."

"I bet you that you're going to die in the first day!"

"Are you kidding? More like first hour, look how small she is!"

They were obviously here for the games and were very eager about it.

The guards, for once, were on the trolls side as they pushed the annoying people past and shoved the green bloods forward towards the awaiting elevators. One of the guards smiled at them. "You guys are lucky that you have that ilk running through your blood. You get the penthouse."  
The floors were arranged to blood color. There were more floors under them, but the red bloods got the lowest of them all, then yellow above them, and so on and so forth.

"Hey, Kanaya, do you think that we might s33 Equius and the ofurs here?" Nepeta asked her.

Kanaya shook her head. "I Do Not Believe That We Will. It Is, Afterall, Very Far Away From Where They Are."

Nepeta nodded slowly, clearly disappointed. "I meow, I was just hoping that maybe we could see them bef-"

"Alright, enough chit-chat, we're here." The guard took Kanaya and Nepeta to their room and the other guard took the boys to theirs. They were only separated by a wall. It wasn't that big of a deal after all. They were just going to die soon, why waste energy and money trying to make it appropriate?

Nepeta gasped at the size of the room, while Kanaya gasped at how luxurious it was.

"This is sooooo huge!"

"This Is By Far The Most Elligant Room I Have Been In For Quite Some Time!"

Kanaya smiled and turned around in the room while Nepeta was bouncing around. "This is so so so so cool!"

The guards shook their heads in both amusement and disapproval. "We'll be back tomorrow at 7:00 AM sharp. Be up and ready to leave by then."  
Nepeta and Kanya nodded "Okay."

The guards looked at them for a seconds before leaving and closing the door behind them before stopping. "Oh, and make sure you go down to the lobby for dinner. We have a very important guest coming and you better be on your best behavior."

Feferi's POV  
As soon as her friends were gone she knew she had to do something, anything to get them back. Her blood was royal, and not only that, she was in line to rule them all. So they had to listen to her. If only it were that simple. There were a lot of things she had to get done before she might be able to get them together again.

The first thing she did was get the others back together. Equius was furious and even that was an understatement. Everybody was in panic and worried for the lowblooded friends of theirs.

"Guys! We need to calm down and sea rea-son!" Feferi shouted.

"WhErE dId EvErYbOdY gO?" Gamzee looked around, worried and wouldn't listen.

"1 DON'T 3V3N G3T 1T. WHY WOULD TH3Y T4K3 OUR FR13NDS?"

"GUYS!" Feferi shouted. It was so loud that it had hurt her throat. Apparently Eridan was done as well.

"Guys seriously shut the mother glubbin fuck up!" He growled at them.

From the sea dwellers shouting, they eventually stopped freaking out, but they were still scared, worried, nervous, etc.

"I t)(ink I )(ave a wave for us to sea them again..."

After she had calmed her friends down she began to demand things from the other trolls around them. What happened, where did they go, what's going to happen, etc.

"Lowblood games? W)(at are t)(ose?"

"T-the lowblood games. It's this like really old game where some lowbloods fight to the death, you know, for our entertainment?" A nervous highblood answered her questions. "It was banned, but President Hussie started to use it this year."

Feferi frowned and began demanding servants near her to get more information on this thing and get her there now.

When Hussie heard, not only did he invite her to watch, he invited her to meet and greet the players. After all, she was next in line for the throne. That could lead to a lot of votes for him. But when she demanded her friends go with...that might be a little tougher. After days of negotiations and string pulling, she was able to take herself and five of her friends with her to see the Lowblood Games.

When she had told her friends, they were ecstatic to go. Most of them were smiling, some for different reasons for others, but all the same happy to go to the event that would decide their friends lives. The problem was that they knew that their low-blooded friends wouldn't make it. Feferi was mainly concerned about Sollux. She didn't know if they were still together or not, but...she hoped so. After all, she wouldn't even see Sollux until tonight and Aradia has had him for quite some time to herself.

But she was also concerned for the others as well. All of the higher bloods had their hopes for somebody that was close to them. Equius was no exception. He had missed Nepeta and Aradia so much, even if Aradia never really even gave him a glance. Sometimes Feferi felt bad for him, but knew he would be okay in the end...maybe.

Once they were all set to go, they were allowed in the train. It was much more comfier than the ones that the lowbloods had taken. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted, but they mainly looked at the disappearing world fly by the window at 300 mph. However, they got their own rooms and were taken very good care of.

"Why do we get aaaaaaaall this attention? I really like this. They should give me more of it." Vriska was stretched out on the couch eating some grapes. Vriska and Eridan were loving all the attention while the others frankly didn't care.

"Because Fef is a royal blood. Somethin you wwouldn't understand, lowwblo-"

"If I was a low8lood then why wasn't I taken with them?"

That was the wrong thing to say. It went silent and all of the trolls were staring at her.

"Because you're a b100b100d. And not one of the base classes." Equius sighed in a monotone.

It was silent for the rest of the ride. They didn't make any stops and were there almost an hour before the lowbloods got there. That was planned. What better timing than dinner on the lowbloods' first night?

When they had got there, most of them wanted to go find their friends, but they weren't allowed to see anybody until that night. It was very frustrating to wait for only 5 hours knowing that their friends were there in the very same building.

A couple of hours later, Feferi and the others were summoned to get ready and dress nicely. The girls wore dresses with their blood color on them with some jewelry matching the color. The guys wore tuxes with their blood color on the ties.

Once they were downstairs, they were seated at a very large table with a white tablecloth. The table was set and nameplates on the plates. A few of them stopped at the place with the name of a loved one and looked at the name. But they moved on after a few seconds. They were here as guests and didn't want to leave so close of seeing their friends if they misbehaved.

"Miss Peixes, Mr. Ampora, Mr. Makara, Mr. Zahhak, Ms. Sekret, and Ms. Pyrope, I present to you," A servant announce, getting their attention. He opened the doors to reveal, "The lowblood contestants."


	8. How not to have a dinner party

Sollux's POV

Sollux went to the yellow blood's room for the guys and sighed, annoyed at the world. As usual. "ii 2eriiou2ly hate thii2 bull2hiit. Iit2 2o 2tupiid."

His roommate looked at him from across the room. More than a few times, he tried to make conversation about anything. The one known as Chiram, sighed, clearly annoyed at Sollux. Chiram had messy hair, pointy teeth and was a total NERD. He only watched shows from the Earth channel known as BBC, and worst of all, he was taller than Sollux. Sollux was used to trolls being taller than him, but was still upset that the only male yellow blood was taller.

Chiram tried to think of something that maybe Sollux would be interested in, after all they were going to die soon and he just wanted to keep to himself. ...Okay maybe it wasn't that bad, but still.

"Dude, come on, we don't have all day. We have to go somewhere for dinner or whatever, right?"

Sollux grunted.

Chiram glared at him and grumbled.

"Well, do you ever watch troll Doctor Who?"

"no."

"Sherlock?"

"no."

"Regular Doctor Who or even Troll Sherlo-"

"ii don't watch any tv."

Chiram sighed and shook his head. "Oooookay."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. After a second, a small yellow blood came in. She was wearing a short yellow dress and flat shoes. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail. She sighed softly at them and gave them a letter. On her chest there was a name tag that had her name on it in small letters. Crisan Asgord. She smiled at them and revealed small fangs, almost like Sollux's.

They were told about their servants. What were they called? Avox? Something along the lines of that. They were going to serve them at all costs and...oh...right, no tongues. Sollux grimaced and took the letter and began to read it.

_Dear Yellow-bloods, Please arrive in the dining room at promptly 6:30 pm. There will be very important guests and you will be on your best behaviors. If you misbehave, you will receive maximum punishment. Now, it is a formal dressing, but we have laid out some clothes for you to wear instead of what the others will be wearing. Please wash up and put on the suits. No weapons are allowed. May the odds be in your favor, low bloods. ~President Hussie _

Sollux passed the note to Chiram and went to the bathroom. Just from one look in the mirror, he could tell that he was not the prettiest ever. He smirked. If her was a girl he would be the hottest shit you have ever seen. He actually remembered asking his lusus if he were a girl, would he be pretty. His lusus sighed and told him he would be the prettiest of them all.

But reality came back and he still looked like he had rolled around in dirt and smelt like death. He didn't even know how long it was since he had a decent shower. He thought about taking one. He always hated them, but he didn't know if it was a bad idea.

Well, it did say to wash up...

He shrugged and began to strip his clothes and went into the shower. He always hated these stupid rain creators. He loved baths instead, it was so much easier. But whatever. He sighed once the hot water ran on his skin, washing all the dirt down. It felt relaxing.

After his shower, he stepped out and got a towel out and wiped himself down. He felt much better than he did, and his headache wasn't that bad anymore. Chiram knocked on the door just as Sollux wrapped the towel around his waist. "what?"

"Are you done in the shower? I need one before dinner."

"ye2. You can have it."

Chiram nodded and waited for a few seconds as Sollux picked up his things and went back into their shared room. That avox girl left, whatever her name was. Probably going to get ready for the dinner. He went over to the dresser and looked inside. There was a black suit in it, only it had red and white striped running down the sides. There was a circle of their blood color as well on the sleeves, which only went to the elbows.

Was this what the uniforms looked like when the Low blood Games was actually...well...He sighed. Guess this is the uniform after all. Oh well.

He put on the black shirt and black trousers and the black shoes. They all had red and white on them, and here and there were some splashes of yellow as well.

After he was dressed, he dared to look in the mirror. Needless to say, he didn't look half bad.

A while after, Chiram and Sollux were sitting in their room, too bored to do anything but wait. They were soon rewarded by the sound of footsteps coming to their room. They sat up and listened to the door being unlocked and a guard standing there.

"It's time for dinner, would you please come down now?"

The two trolls nodded and followed the guards into this huge room and looked around in awe. This was probably the most fanciest room either of them have even seen. There were chandeliers everywhere and huge fancy rugs, it pretty much looked like it was meant fo- right, high bloods.

After they admired everything, the guard took them down to the line of trolls and put them behind the red bloods. It was going from lowest to highest then.

Sollux smiled at Aradia and she smiled back at him. He wondered how Feferi was doing and if she was gonna be okay after all of this. After all, a lot of her friends were going to be killed, but he would fight for her, if nothing else.

Aradia's POV

She briefly wondered what Sollux would do once he and Feferi were re-united and hoped that he would still like her instead of Feferi. Aradia was friends with her, sure. But she was with Sollux first. Doesn't that mean anything? If she hadn't died-

_St0p thinking this, she told herself. Y0u're n0t being fair. He can date wh0 ever he wants t00 Besides, it's n0t like b0th 0f y0u are g0ing t0 c0me 0ut alive._

Beyond the door, the low bloods could hear the conversation going on between the high bloods. Quick footsteps coming from behind them turned their attention to the owner of them. It was a servant of the high bloods and he looked very nervous.

It was obvious why, he was a high blood himself. A blue blood.

Aradia resisted the urge to scoff. Equius was a very good example of what his blood color should be. Arrogant, mean, tough, strong, strict...the list could go on. But she did feel something for him. What it was, she didn't know. But she guessed she would find out soon enough.

"Now, now, I know most of you are uncivilized and well...disgusting, but even you must know how this works." Blank stares met his statement, with a few unhappy ones slapping him in the face. "Alright, low bloods girls on the left, boys on the right."

The low bloods groaned and moved to make it "acceptable" to the servant. Because there were so many, there were five red bloods, five orange bloods, four yellow bloods and four green. Most of the blood colors were furious to find this out, and so were many others. This went against tradition! But then again, mixing in humans were against tradition, having a mind controlled mutant went against it as well. So the President allowed it to happen.

The odd number of trolls were lined up side by side until they were finally let it by the snooty servant.  
Aradia, Sollux, Nepeta and Kanaya gasped happily when they saw their friends there. It was almost unbelievable. The servant guided them all to their seats, which to most of their disappoint, went according to class. Low bloods on almost the opposite end of the table. But, luckily Nepeta and Kanaya were fairly close to them and smiled brightly at them.

President Hussie, who was sitting next to Feferi, stood up. "Hello everybody. Thank you for coming tonight and I do hope you have a good time while you stay." He faked a smile at everybody, but nobody caught onto him. "Now, for the low bloods, today you shall rest, but for the next three days you are training together, wearing what you are now. I'd recommend you try and keep those clean because you don't get the chance to do any laundry. Then once the training is done, it's time to make more public appearances. Mainly it's just the interview and being given your score on a range from 1-12. There are other stuff, such as signing stuff with your face on them and etc, etc. I'm boring myself. You may converse with each other as you eat one of the finest meals I can offer to you."

He sat down with a smile and lifted the lid to his dinner, which revealed some weird food that looked like it had fur growing out of it. Hussie, however, just ate it straight up without any hesitation whatsoever. It must be one of the capitol foods.

Everybody poked it with their forks, not wanting to try it and die before the thing even begins. To try and distract herself, Aradia turned to Sollux and smiled at him. He smiled back before quickly turning to stare at Feferi.

She sighed and turned to look at Equius, who was conversing with his moirail.  
Aradia sighed and turned to Cookie instead.

"H0w d0 y0u like it here?"

"It's...different, that's for sure." She replied so quiet, Aradia almost had to press her ear against her mouth to be able to hear her correctly, if at all.

"Yeah, I agree with y0u 0n that. Wh0 d0 y0u think is g0nna try the fuzzy tac0s first this time? Well, after Hussie 0f c0urse. He already ate 0ne."

Cookie looked around unsure of who to pick until she pointed at one with crazy hair and long horns. "Gamzee?" Cookie nodded. "I believe we have a bet 0n 0ur hands. What say y0u?" Cookie smiled and extended a hand. "I bet a cool coin I found under a chair in our room." Aradia smiled in agreement and took a cookie and put it in her pocket then put a finger to her lips. Cookie giggled and nodded.  
A few more well suited people walked into the room, attracting all their attention. They were all very...capitol like for their style. They were all wearing the low blood colors in their hair, suits, eyes, everything basically.

Hussie nodded to them and had them sit near him and Feferi. "Everybody, I'd like to introduce you to your mentors. The colors they wear are the blood color they are assigned to. Even their hair was the color. Their facial hair was twirled around to make it look like circles running up their face. I suggest," he spoke in an unamused voice, which almost seemed deadly, "That you treat them with utmost respect because they will be saving your lives."

About after three or so hours later, they were all allowed to mingle with one another.  
Nepeta immediately rushed to Equius and hugged him, which he started sweating. She giggled and smiled at him. Aradia thought it was cute and smiled at their direction. Equius caught her looking at them and began to turn a tad blue from blushing.

Feferi did the same, only to Sollux and he smiled back and hugged her. She kissed him on the cheek and he twirled her around. Eridan watched from the distance, standing next to Gamzee in the corner. Feferi turned to Aradia and smiled brightly at her then "waved." It was a pun without it meaning to.  
After a few minutes of talking to Cookie, Gamzee tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked questioningly at him. They haven't spoken much before so she didn't get why he was now. However, Vriska, who was standing right next to him, was very familiar with Aradia.

"D0 y0u guys need s0mething?"

"YeAh MaN. wheReS tAvBrO aNd My MoThEr FuCkInG bEsT fRiEnD?"

"Yeeeeeeeeah. Did you kill them off 8efore they got the chance to-"

"N0, but they were taken away fr0m us. I kn0w that Tavr0s is dead th0ugh." Aradia didn't hesitate to bring them the news. To her, death was exciting and people made it out to be bad. Which is one of the reasons she loved the idea of this game so much. To her, it really was a game.

Gamzee nearly choked on himself and took a few steps back and Vriska just looked...shocked. Then shock slowly, ever so slowly, fell into disappointment.

It took them a couple seconds to get it together and when Gamzee did, he snapped.  
He charged her and took a hold of her neck, applying pressure to her throat immediately. She tried to gasp, but there was no air for her. He began to shake her back and forth, as if that would help. She choked and tried to reach for his hand but was too weak.

"WhAt Do YoU mEaN? tAvBrO cAnT bE dEaD mOtHeRfUcKeR!" He growled at her and began to tighten his grip. Cookie quickly ran up and tried to push Gamzee off of Aradia. He didn't even notice her and didn't move. He turned to face her and pushed her down with a hand, and Aradia took that opportunity and pushed him off of her. Gamzee re-encountered and pushed her against a wall and tried to choke her again.

Guards quickly came to the rescue and pulled Gamzee off of her. Just as quickly they shoved Aradia out of the room, Cookie tried to go after her, but was held back. Once she was taken away, some guards came over to Gamzee to make sure he was alright and what the cause of the incident was. He shoved them away and ran back to his own room. They all silently agreed to pretend not to notice the purple tears streaming down his face once he left.

Nepeta's POV

There was an awkward pause of silence in the room for a few minutes.

Hussie clapped his hands together, startling a few of them. "Well, I take it that that signals the end of things tonight. Low bloods, please bid your farewells to the higher bloods for now. You'll see them around much more, but you must leave." He said that all with such a sick smiled.

Nepeta turned to Equius and gave him a saddened look. Equius sighed heavily and returned the look.  
She jumped up on him and gave him a huge hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist.

"*AC doesn't want to leave CT and furowns.*" She whined in his ear.

He sighed and responded to her. "*CT is also disappointed and prom- I mean, ahem, purromises to see his moirail again soon.*"

The gaurds started to take the lowbloods away from their friends, seeing how none of them were moving fast enough. A guard came up to Nepeta and tried to pull her off of Equius, but she shook her head and tried to hold on tighter. The guards came eventually when she doesn't come with the others and finally managed to pry her off. She screamed and tried to be let go, but the guards wouldn't even entertain the thought of it.

Equius stood there with a morbid look on his face. He didn't want her to go either, but what could he have done?

Nepeta managed to hold out her hand and tried to reach him, but he only stood there silently, wanting to run to her and take her out of this. He couldn't, she knew he couldn't, but they still wanted to be with each other.

It wouldn't be long until she was going to fight for her life.

Kanaya's POV

Kanaya sighed and went to lean up against a wall, waiting to be taken. Since she was observing everything from a distance, she saw Nepeta try to hold onto her moirail, she saw Sollux and Feferi hug tightly and then departure from one another. Honestly, with such sad looks on their faces, Kanaya sighed. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right. But what could they do?

A guard came up to Kanaya, and she simply followed him. Rose wasn't there, she didn't see Karkat anywhere, who was there to miss her?

Kanaya frowned.

It seemed as though that thought had struck a nerve with her. She tried to push it out of her mind, but couldn't. It kept bugging her and wouldn't let her mind think of anything else. It was so stupid she sighed and followed the guard to the shared room with Nepeta.

Nepeta was crying and didn't look up at Kanaya. She got a vibe that Nepeta just wanted to be left alone for a while, which she understood perfectly. That brought her back to the earlier thought. Why had it been them that were chosen? Why couldn't it be high bloods or something? Why had it had to be low bloods?

She sighed and lowered her head. She knew why. The reason it was them was because low bloods were useless in their eyes, even with the hemospectrum gone for so many sweeps. Be like she had stated earlier, what could they do? They were just low bloods.

Kanaya hated these games already.

* * *

Hey guys~! :D  
So I was thinking of doing some bonus chapters once I'm finished with the story, like what Sollux and Feferi were talking about when they met up after they were taken away, what Karkat was up to, etc. What do you guys think? Lemme know in a review :3  
Thanks again guys! Sorry for the lack of updates :L  
Please review~


	9. A shade of gray

Aradia's POV

Aradia yelped as a guard pushed her forward without any care for her. She turned and glared at him before a slap interrupted her glaring session. She gently touched her face where the hand had hit her. Before she could look up, a hand grabbed the back of her head and pulled it upward, making her look up.

"What the HELL was that?" a familiar voice boomed out. "The highest blood on the land dwelling scale! And you angered him to the point where he tries to kill you before the games?! What HAPPENED?!" The Game maker, a person named Doc Scratch, looked furious and stepped in the room.

Doc Scratch usually had a white ball around his head, a white tux with a green tie and shirt, and was almost always calm to the point it was scary. But for the dinner, he had removed his white ball and revealed his face. Turns out his eyes were the same shade of green as his shirt and he had bleach blonde hair. However, when he returned to go yell at Aradia, the ball went back on his head.

Aradia shrugged and rubbed her neck as if the reminder of the event spiked the pain again. "I d0n't kn0w, he just snapped."

The hand had once again hit her face sideways. She glared at the games master and scowled at him.

"What did you tell him then?"

Aradia took a deep breathe before explaining what she had said about Tavros and Karkat. The guard and Doc Scratch glanced at each other, almost speaking to each other with just their faces before the guard nodded and Doc Scratch left.

"What? Why did he leave?" Aradia hesitantly asked.

"Well, you see, low blood, you aren't suppose to tell Gamz- I mean, the high blood, about his orange blooded friend. The ones who didn't make it this far are just better forgotten." The guard sighed and took off his gloves before turning to her. "It's just easier for everybody."

Aradia shook her head and took a step back when she saw his gloves being tossed at the ground. "S0 what? I can't tell him that his friend isn't here anym0re?"

The guard glared at her and shook his head. "No. It's a law that you can't. There are a lot of laws that you must follow." He began to walk to her, smirking dangerously. "If you weren't in these games, I promise you that you would have been killed for this. But, because you are..." He grinned and had to bite his tongue from barking out laughter. "You're only going to be punished as a low blood should be, in the games or not."

Aradia glowered at him and tried to hide her growing fear. "And punished h0w?"

"Let me show you how we deal with people who break the law without killing them."

Cookie's POV

It was the first training day out

f th-*ree. Cookie was beyond nervous and was wondering what had happened to Aradia. She never came home last night, making her worry and think of the possibilities, that could have happened to her. Cookie had already showered, gotten dressed in the clothes that they had given them last night and was tying her shoes together when Aradia stumbled into the room.

"Aradia," Cookie gasped at the sight of her, "What happened?"

Aradia coughed harshly and promptly fell to the ground, but with the help of Cookie and an Avox, she was carried to the bed and was gently put on top of it. The avox quickly ran to get water for Aradia to drink while Aradia spilled out her story.

In a raspy voice, Aradia began to tell her what happened over the course of eight hours last night. Every few words she either had to stop for breath or lick her lips to continue. "They were upset...that I had told... Gamzee what had happened...They blamed his outrage on me and..." She couldn't go on, she has to stop because of her constant coughing.

The avox returned to her and gave her the cold glass of water. It was like heaven to Aradia and Cookie watched anxiously as she gulped down the entire glass greedily. Once she finished it, she cleared her throat and took a few breaths.

When she spoke again, her voice was noticeably improved. "They began t0 beat me. I wouldn't scream t0 give them satisfaction and they had taken 0ffense t0 that. Apparently there are rules in which y0u must 0bey 0r else. And I had the audacity t0 find 0ut what the 0r else part was." Aradia breathed and rolled up her sleeve to reveal bruises covering most of her arm.

Cookie gasped and looked at her in shock. She glanced at the rest of Aradia and noticed that the bruises covered most of her body, but she tried her hardest to ignore all of that. "I was n0t in the best 0f c0nditions last night when they had finally finished to make it up the stairs. I just n0w got up a few minutes ag0."

Cookie frowned and reached into her pocket to dig out her treasure. Once she found it, she smiled and placed the coin on her lap. Aradia cracked an eye open and glanced down at the cold touch of the metal on her leg. "The c0in y0u f0und?"

Cookie beamed at her and nodded. "I don't care if you lost the bet or not, I want to have it still, okay?" Cookie got up and began to head to the door. "I'm heading down to get some breakfast, do you want anything?"

Aradia shook her head no and rolled over. "I'm g0ing t0 try and get s0me sleep."

Cookie nodded and closed the door as gently as she could.

The other trolls were buzzing with excitement that morning as Cookie stepped down into the dinning room. It wasn't the same last night, but still nicer than what they were all used to. There was everything imaginable to eat. It ranged from simple fruit to tiger eyes. She grabbed some cookies, french toast, ice cream and a glass of apple juice and quickly went to go sit with her usual group, trying not to stare at the strange foods.

As she passed tables, she heard all the different accents that went with the other troll voices. Maybe all the trolls didn't actually come from just that one place as she had thought. For all she knew, they were. But there were so many of them on the train here...

She sighed and tried to forget the thought as she started to eat her breakfast, listening to Kanaya rant on about how the outfits weren't fashionable. Nepeta was simply engulfing her food down. She had requested it all raw specially instead of cooked.

"Why do you do that? Doesn't the meat taste weird?" Cookie softly questioned the cat troll's actions.

"Beclaws," Nepeta giggled. "It tastes so much better than it cooked, you don't get to taste all the blood and stuff run through your t33th and-" She stopped talking at Cookie's somewhat appalled look. "H33h33 sorry, I can get carried away sometimes." Nepeta smiled at her with already blood stained teeth.

Cookie grinned back at her despite the blood and looked at the others. "So what's the plan for today?" She began to eat her somewhat abnormal breakfast and glanced at Nepeta, who was still eating away at the raw meat.

"Well," Nepeta gulped the food down and wiped some of the remains off with her arm, "We heard that the humans are finally arriving today, so we get to train with them, but otherwise I think we're just training fur most of the day. I think we get picked at one at a time to go with somebody to get all dressed up? But then they wouldn't tell us."

Cookie nodded in approval. That sounded kinda easy to her, at the least. It wasn't like they were going to get interviewed in front of the entire world to see what they were like and get sponsors who could help them if they were about to be killed and/or in desperate need of something.

Nope. Nothing like that at all.

After she was finished eating, she paid more attention to what the others were talking about. Kanaya had gotten over the fact that her outfit was dreadful and Sollux had finally been convinced that the honey wasn't mind honey. They had even gotten him to have a little. He didn't eat much, but at least it was something, right?

Cookie, for the most of the conversation, was very quiet as usual. She only really opened up to Aradia and Nepeta and even then she was still quiet. She was just one of those people who liked being quiet. When she was little, her lusus was worried something was bothering her and always give her a treat or two to try and make her feel better.

She sighed and glanced down at the fork in her hand. Her head was leaning on her arm, which was resting on the table. She missed her lusus a lot and wished that she was still there with her, but unfortunately for her, she wasn't, so like all of the others, Cookie either had to suck it up or die. But even that thought didn't stop her from thinking of all the nice times they had together. It was really nice and one time they went on this one adventure and they-

"Did You Hear Me Cookie?"

At the mention of her name, said troll snapped her head up and looked at the others. They must have said asked her something while she was remembering all the adventure that involved a potato, a garden hose, three fireworks, a toaster and a pickle. But that was a completely different story.

Slowly, she shook her head and looked at the fork again, embarrassed.

"I Had Asked Where Aradia Was," Kanaya said gently, easily reading the child's emotions. "Do You Know?"

Cookie gently nodded. "She's sleeping right now, I don't know what happened last night but she came in all bruised and stuff."

In an instant, the others looked at each other shocked. "Wa2 iit becau2e of the event from la2t niight?"

Cookie looked up and gave them a quick nod before looking down again.

Sollux, like the rest of them, was quiet from the shock. He was however, the first to speak up again. "Thii2 ii2 bull2hiit."

After a few minutes to think about this and absorb it all, Kanaya stood up. "Well, We Cannot Just Simply Sit Here And Wait For Something To Happen. Come On, We Must Go To Training. Hopefully, She Will Be There, But If She Isn't, We Will Just Have To Go Get Her. Maybe A Servant Could Get Her Or Something As Well." Kanaya mostly rambled that to herself, but to the others as well.

Cookie nodded and got up with the others to the training room before the guards came and forced them to come out.

As they were walking, Cookie went over to Nepeta and smiled at her. She liked the others, but she preferred to be with Nepeta. Though, she could get along well with Kanaya. Kanaya always had reminded her of her lusus. She smirked and nibbled on the cookie she had brought with her.

They entered the room and looked around with eyebrows raised. It was pretty big, but not as big as the room from last night. It was a size of about a gym and had metal covering all the walls. On the walls were weapons of all shapes and sizes. They were basic, but to a few of them, like Cookie, they had never seen them.

A guard was already standing there, watching them closely. "Line up against the wall with your arms to the side. No touching anything." They quickly lined up and Cookie made sure that she was near the others.

Aradia soon came in with the humans by her side. The humans also had five with them, two girls and three boys. They were all around the age of fourteen and looked very fit. They must have worked out well. Before they could get a real good look at the humans, they were forced to line up side by side.

Once everybody was lined up, (Aradia didn't get the chance to stand by then because of she being late with the humans,) the guard began to speak about how the game was going to work. "In two weeks, one of you will be alive, the rest dead. There will be shocks, twists, and terrifying things out there. In order to survive, you must be prepared for anything. Some of you will be killed, but some will die from disease, dehydration, starvation, the list goes on. You will have the next three days to prepare. At a time, you will be pulled out with the rest of your blood color to attend an event that could either save you or ruin you. Don't worry, though, you won't be killed." The guard looked at all of them one at a time and began to pace back and forth, like an animal waiting for food. "There will be no fighting while you are training. There will be plenty of time for that later. IF you are fighting with another, you will immediately be removed and sent back to your room. You will be watched," the guard waved their arm up to gesture to a glass window. There were seats there, like a movie theature, only instead of there being twenty rows or so, there were only fifteen seats total. "By the high bloods and the game master. On the third day, your training will be cut short after a few hours to begin your scoring. You will demonstrate your skills to the game master and some high bloods to be rated on a scale of one through twelve, twelve being the highest you can get. Your score will tell others about what threat you are in the games, which may earn you sponsors."

The guard stopped and began to look at the others again. It was as though she was trying to decide which one would be the most entertaining to watch, which did seem to be what she was doing. "I hope you all listened well, because training starts now."


	10. The Redblood Interview

Aradia's POV

After the words had left their mouth, everybody began to spread out and search for something they could train with, learn, or even just watch. A few of the guards were watching, just in case a fight broke out and there were a few close calls. More than once somebody had accidentally hit something and that triggered somebody else and...well, you get it.

Aradia began to look for a weapon of some sort. She would just use her powers, but unfortunately, damned bracelet was still on the wrists of Sollux and Aradia, so they had to find weapons to use and quickly master them. There was a wall of weapons almost everywhere, so she picked each one up and tested it out, but none of them seemed fit for her taste. She wasn't very picky and did like a few of them, but kept searching just in case something she really liked popped up.

Eventually, she stumbled across something that she loved. She was not only used to it, but it was the weapon of the adventurer-if you wanna call him that- from one of the many favorite movies of Aradia. A whip.

She quickly picked it up and tried it out, causing a CRACK to cry out from it. Everybody turned their heads towards her and she smiled, laughing a little before waving. They turned their attention back to their training and left her alone, but Cookie came up curiously.

"Is that your weapon? It's really cool!" She exclaimed, holding a small knife herself.

Aradia nodded. "I like y0ur knife, it's c00l t00." That seemed to be the right thing to say because she ?smiled up at her and looked excited. "Really?" Aradia gave another nod to the smaller troll and wrapped up the whip.

"I actually used this f0r my weap0n when I c0uldnt use my p0wers." Aradia gestured to her bracelet and sighed, almost upset like. Cookie sensed this and quickly grabbed her hand and began to drag her. "Where are we g0ing?"

"I wanna try rock climbing! It could be fun!" Cookie grinned at her and continued to drag her along with her to the rock climbing wall. It didn't have any harnesses or safety equipment to it, what was the point? It did have a mat under it though, so in case you fall you wouldn't die.

Just when they got up to it and began to climb, a guard came up to them and cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. "You're needed for the interview." He turned his back on them and walked to get the other red bloods.

Cookie and Aradia looked at each other in confusion, but followed him anyway. He had rounded the other red bloods and took them through a door. There were costumes everywhere from dresses to dragon capes. They had everything.

A human with wild yellow hair came running up to them with her heels going _tap tap tap_ the whole way. "OOOOOH! ARE THESE THE REDBLOODS?! THEY ARE. SO. CUTE." She shouted, causing them all to flinch, including the guard.

The guard sighed and mumbled about how they talked about not shouting so loudly. The women giggled insanely and nodded wildly. "Yes, yes, NOW I remember! Of course, sorry my dear reddies~." This earned her more confused, and somewhat freaked out, looks. "Anyway, time to go, so much to DO!" She dashed behind a curtain and called for the girls to come and put on the dresses.

The girls reluctantly followed the weird lady as the boys went with the normal outfitter who was quiet the entire time. Actually, none of them really noticed him until he stepped out of the shadows.

They went through a maze of curtains until they reached a rack of dresses, colors ranging from bright red to a shade of dark pink. The crazy lady led them to the red dresses and pulled out a measuring tape, sizing them up. They rolled their eyes and held up their arms when they were told or let her poke and prod them with questions.

Finally, they were able to put on the chosen dresses for them. Aradia's was a shimmering, tight fitting and curve hugging, with elegant folds and frills on the shoulder and midsection. It was very snug on her, but she didn't mind, after all it did look pretty good on her. Cookie's was short, coming up to her knees, and had straps. It was a very plain dress with nothing very special about it, though it did have a belt running across the middle of it.

Once they had the dresses on, the lady squealed and quickly pushed them, literally, out on stage where bright lights flashed everywhere and cameras were zooming in on them. The guys were pushed into them from behind, most likely from the crazy lady, causing them to tumble to the ground.

Aradia glanced up to see a nice looking man in a tuxedo smiling down at her. "Are you alright, miss?" He held out a hand and gently helped her up. She smiled kindly at him and nodded. "I'm fine." The man had combed back hair and was dressed up for the event. He definitely had to be from the capital. His horns were spiraling upward and one was bent at an odd angle. He was a cerulean blood and looked nice enough. "My name is Caesar I'll be interviewing you all today."

Caesar helped the rest of them up and made sure they were alright before guiding them to some chairs over by his own chair. They were comfortable enough, more than enough room for all the red bloods to sit on. "Are you all ready?" Aradia and the others nodded.

The camera man shouted something and soon enough, the cameras were rolling and they started the interview. "Welcome to the games, everybody. We're here with the red bloods for this returning event." He gestured to them. "I'm your host, Caesar Flicker. We're so glad that you could take the time out of your schedule to come."

He might have been speaking to the trolls, but none of them responded. They were glancing around at the huge audience. In the nosebleeds, Aradia could make out the shapes of her friends and offered a small smile. Next to them, of course, was the President himself. That didn't help ease her worried though. In fact it probably made them ten times worse.

"...Aradia?"

Aradia snapped her attention back to Caesar He must have said something to her. "I'm s0rry, what?" The audience laughed a little at her reaction and he grinned warmly at her, as if he could tell what she was feeling. "I just asked how you liked the capitol."

Aradia smiled back at him. He made her more relaxed and that could actually help save her life. "It's very different fr0m what I've experience bef0re. I like it." He went on to ask how the others liked it, mostly getting the same response. Aradia suspected that he got that a lot. It must have been a thing for people not to insult places with people who could help them survive.

He went on to ask them if they were nervous, of course they were, if they missed the people they left behind, no shit Sherlock, what scores they think they could get in training, all of them said they hoped for high, but only time would be the ones to tell.

"Now, I must ask you all something personal. Do you have anybody special to you?" Aradia suddenly felt her chest tighten. She didn't really know if she could say who. She knew that she should say Sollux...but something held her back. Did she actually feel something for the troll that made her a new body? She was sure that the chip that he planted in her robot was evil, mean and beyond acceptable. But...ugh, so much drama! She hated this.

Cookie shook her head and laughed a no, the boys said they did but they didn't know where they were. "Hopefully somewhere safe!" But Aradia...she took a deep breath and turned towards the nosebleeds seats. "I think...it's c0mplicated I think..."

An uncomfortable silence took place for a moment, but Caesar knew what to do. "Well, I think that you will be just fine in the end. I wish you all luck. But unfortunately, we're out of time. Thank you again for taking the time."

The red bloods stood up and Aradia quickly smiled politely before made a beeline for the exit. She didn't think that went well. But hopefully, she would at least get one supporter...hopefully.


End file.
